American Promise

Synopsis

American Promise spans 13 years as Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, middle-class African-American parents in Brooklyn, N.Y., turn their cameras on their son, Idris, and his best friend, Seun, who make their way through Dalton, one of the most prestigious private schools in the country. Chronicling the boys’ divergent paths from kindergarten through high school graduation, this provocative, intimate documentary presents complicated truths about America’s struggle to come of age on issues of race, class and opportuni

Director Biography

Joe Brewster is a Harvard and Stanford educated psychiatrist who specialized in organizational analysis, the use of psychoanalytic principles to understand and improve organizations. His documentary and feature film projects have received broadcast on PBS, Showtime, the Sundance Channel and the Starz Network.
Michèle Stephenson is a graduate of McGill University and Columbia University School of Law. After serving as law clerk for the Honorable Judge Jack B. Weinstein in the Eastern District of New York, and following a previous career in international development in West Africa, Stephenson’s legal work brought her to human rights and racial justice advocacy at Peter Gabriel’s organization, WITNESS.